The Offer
Those who don’t have any Rakuten/Ebates account can take advantage of the following offer:
- Join Rakuten (the Membership Rewards version) and receive 3,000 Membership Rewards points.
- To earn this bonus, make qualifying purchases totaling $25 or more within 90 days of becoming a new member.
The Fine Print
- To qualify for a Welcome Bonus, you must be a new member and make minimum qualifying purchases totaling at least twenty-five dollars ($25) within ninety (90) days of becoming a Member.
Out Verdict
Standard signup bonus on the Membership Rewards version is 1,500 points. I don’t think we’ve ever seen it higher (though we once recommended, in the past, signing up for a cash version which had – at the time – a $30 bonus and then transferring the account to become a points version).
This only works for new members, and I believe you need to have only one version of Rakuten accounts. If you currently have a cash version, I don’t think you’re eligible for this bonus; just convert your cash version to points version if you wish.
I don’t believe it’s possible to refer friends to the points version of Rakuten. There is a workaround that the referrer should get a the referrer bonus by clicking your friend’s referral link, then navigating to https://www.rakuten.com/american-express and signing up like regular. The cookies should remain in the link, and the referrer should get their $25 bonus. Regardless, the new member will certainly get their 3,000 points bonus since they signed up directly on that page. If anyone wants to buy me lunch, please click my Rakuten referral link before proceeding to https://www.rakuten.com/american-express and signing up. Thanks 🙂
